The group continues to make their way to port Victoria. Whilst walking down a road a colossal broccoli-shaped tree reaching through the clouds in the distance catches the attention of Victor.

Victor (amazed): Woah…That’s a huge ass tree…

Darren: Hm? Is this your first time seeing one?

Sharon: Really…It’s ginormous! I can’t imagine how it’d look if we were actually right in front of it… – She says adding in to the grandeur scenery. .

Darren: Huh? You’ve never seen at least one of those trees too? It’s freakin’ huge! How do you miss it?

Tatsuo: I’ve seen two of these before. It’s impressive how even living here, you can miss something as big as that. Guess Irene is just that big. I’ve been here for years and I have yet to explore the entire thing…Shut up Henteko.

Darren: So? Are your eyes satisfied yet? Let’s not get sidetracked now. I want to hurry up and get to Odale.

Queenie: There might be a town located at the base of the tree’s trunk. We can stop by to check it out if you’d like.

Darren: Oi! Oi! Hold up now…! Don’t you want to go to Odale as soon as possible too?

Queenie: I do. But it is beginning to get late. I’m just saying that the town over there may be our closest location to settle for the night, and who knows how much longer it’ll take us to get to the next town following this path. Unless you’d rather prefer having to to sleep out in the fields again in sleeping bags?

Darren (sounding defeated): You guys do whatever you like then…

Darren notices Tatsuo, Sharon, and Victor have long begun walking off the path.

Darren: Aaand…They’re already making their way towards it…Guess there wasn’t a choice…

The group arrives at a small quaint town where the houses have flower-shaped plants placed upside down as roofs, located along the rim of one of the tree’s gigantic roots.

Sharon and Victor gapes at the sheer size of the tree.

Sharon: Hmmm…How should I say…Seeing it up close like this…It’s impressive…

Victor: But at the same time…It’s not…I mean, the scale is stunning but…

Tatsuo: It looks a lot better when you look at it from a distance instead.

Both Victor and Sharon agree in unison.

Victor: It’s just too damn big…! This single tree root basically covers the entire area…So you’re basically only looking at bark! And looking up does no good either, it’s all leaves!

Sharon: The ambience is quite pleasing though…It’s a well lit place with all the luminescent bugs scattered around the area…It’s rather soothing.

Darren: Good to see it was everything you guys had expected…Anyways, we’re here now, let’s just get ourselves a place to stay.

The group begins touring the place. They encounter a local, who wore nothing but a floral skirt and a floral headband with floral pattern tattoos etched on his arms and cheeks. He points them towards the tallest structure in the town, telling them that’s the only place to go if the group were looking to rest here.

Upon entering the tavern, the group encounters its owner sitting atop a giant, cleanly cut tree trunk; a stern-looking amber skinned old woman wearing tribal clothes with a native-style feather bonnet. Strapped behind her is a massive unfolded paper fan.The tavern owner introduces herself as Clara. She asks the group if they wish to stay at her lodging, to which they confirm with her. Clara raises her brow in an inspecting manner.

Clara: Are you all perhaps…Adventurers…?

Tatsuo: No we’re not. We’re a guild.

Sharon: Is…There a problem…?

Clara: Indeed…Hmph! I have a strong disdain for adventurers you see! If you were to tell me otherwise, I’d have chased you folks off with this fan of mine!

Tatsuo points at Sharon: Well, she’s a self-proclaimed adventurer.

Sharon: Geh! Tatsuo!!! What are you–!!

Clara’s eyes ignite in a fiery rage and she unfastens the giant fan behind her, raising it high in the air.

Clara: You…!

Clara swings the fan down at Sharon, snapping her fan as she begins chasing after her.

Clara: You folks dare lie to me…!?

Sharon desperately runs away: N-no…! I-I’m just someone who was inspired to be an adventurer…! Now I’m officially in a guild…!!

Clara smacks her gargantuan fan on Sharon’s butt, making a loud cracking sound upon impact. Sharon, on the ground with tears in her eyes, pitifully rubs her swollen rear. She immediately chastises Tatsuo.

Sharon: Oi! Tatsuo…!!! Why’d you have to say that for…?!

Tatsuo: Sorry. I just wanted to see what would happen.

Clara smacks Tatsuo on the head with her fan, but as expected, remains unfazed by it.

Clara: I don’t particularly have a strong liking for guilds either…! They remind me of adventurers!

Clara eyes out Darren. Darren looks back, blinking back at her. She then proceeds to smack him with her fan as well.

Darren: Why me too…?!

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Clara: I don’t like kids either.

Darren: You old hag!!! I’m not even a kid dammit!!!

Clara begins assaulting Darren with her fan as Darren squirms about trying to defend himself.

Clara: I especially hate rude kids like you!

Meanwhile Victor, as he’s checking around the room, notices that there’s a lot of portraits of a guy hung all around.

Victor: There’s awfully a lot of pictures of this guy here…

Clara: Ah…Well…

Clara: I don’t know if you all know of it, but this tree of massive size that towers into the sky is a world tree. Otherwise known as an Ellen.

Clara: Do you youngsters know of the story of Irene?

Sharon: Not in particular, no.

Victor: I’ve heard about Irene, but not the actual stories of her.

Darren: Isn’t she basically like some legendary, supernatural figure? Or like, an ancient hero? Something like that.

Clara: Hm. Some even viewed her as a deity. Well…As long as you all get the idea. There are many tell tales of Irene’s travels around the world. But most of them are fabled upon Irene’s discovery of this land, and her journey across it.

Victor: Isn’t that why this land is named after her?

Queenie: It is. She’s widely iconic for being the founder of Irene. There’s a famous quote, “she shaped the land to fit her image”, taken from one of the passages of the books depicting her journey. .

Clara: Indeed! Which is why some say that is why the land is shaped as her head.

Victor: Wait! Is that it?! Is it really?!

Darren: Yeah, I’ve heard the same thing before.

Victor asks Sharon to hand him the map and the group stares at it for a bit.

Victor: Wow…! Now that you mentioned it…I see it now! The west side is her face in a sideway position, and the east looks like the flowing hair of a woman…!

Clara: Yes…And it’s said that the Ellens are directly connected to her. This Ellen is one of many that can be found around the world, but most of them are located here in Irene. They say that the Ellens were born from Irene’s powers.

Darren: Okay…But what does all this have to do with the man in the pictures?

Clara sighs: This is why I don’t like kids. Always needing everything immediately! You youngsters have no patience these days!

Clara: That man in the picture is one of the founders of this place…It was depicted that Irene did not travel alone on her adventures. She traveled with a group of companions.

Clara turns her head upwards to face one of the nearby portraits, “And that man that you see in these pictures here…”

Victor: Woah…! Don’t tell me…!

Sharon: No ways…!

Queenie: Even I never knew about this…

Darren: Then…! Does that mean that guy is…!

Victor: One of Irene’s companions…?!

Clara: No. It’s my husband.

The group gets miffed and angrily asks what was the point of giving all the unnecessary background exposition to begin with.

Darren: What the hell woman?! What does your husband have to do with all the cryptic tales that you were going off of?!

Clara: Hmph! My husband has been missing for six years now…! He used to always idolize adventurers! His drivels almost sent me insane…! He especially couldn’t stop telling me of all the stories of Irene, and how he’d want to go off on an adventure just like her!

Clara: He finally let go of the subject to settle down here with me and build a town…But then that bastard ends up disappearing on me one day…! I have no idea where he went off to…But I bet you he got tired of living life here with me and ran off to be an adventurer!!

Sharon: Ah…Ha…

Darren: I see…

Tatsuo finds a billboard and takes a look at it to see what is posted on there.

Tatsuo: Hm? Is this a quest board?

Clara: Ah…Yeah…Sometimes we have quests posted up to have people help gather resources for the town…For adventurers that take quests, I allow for them to stay.

Tatsuo picks up a paper: But isn’t this a picture of your husband though?

The group walks up to the billboard to also take a look. Victor also takes a paper which reads as:

Wanted:

Wolhart Springbottom

Dead or Alive

$15,000 and 5x Magic Scrolls

Victor: Yeah…Actually, aren’t all of these just a search request for your husband?!

Darren focuses his sight on the prints at the bottom of the quest.

Darren: Dead…Or alive…? This isn’t even a search quest! This is more like a bounty poster! Is this a misprint granny?? Why would you want your husband dead??!!

Clara: Hmph! I could care less about how he’s returned to me! Either way, when I see him again, he’s dead! – She spouts while crossing her arms.

Clara: Anyways, if you youngsters are done asking me questions, allow me to show you to your rooms…

Clara makes a motion with her arm, and the walls made out of vines form an opening for the group, presenting a path.

Clara: Your room is going to be on the second floor, third door to the left. And here are your keys.

Clara tosses their key at them to which Sharon catches.

Clara: Don’t worry about exiting back here. The vines will simply open back up as soon as you approach them.

The group walks over to the entrance created by the vines, and the vines writhes itself back into place, spooking the group and enclosing them inside. The group make their way through the pathway that is lit up by illuminating plants hanging over the vine walls. They make it to their room, hunker down and begin to rest for the day.

*Several hours later.

Amidst the night, Victor wakes up in need to use the toilet. He comes to find that Darren is already using the toilet, so Victor exits the room in search of a public bathroom to use. He gets lost along the way, but eventually comes to find one. On his return, Victor feels more lost than he was before.

Victor (thinking): I know I’m bad at directions…But is it just me…Or do I not recall going through this hallway…at all…?

Victor wearily rubs his eyes. The more time he spends wandering around, the more sleepy he gets, his vision slowly blurring more frequently.

Something catches his attention. He comes across a turquoise colored slime, the two surprising each other.

Victor (thinking): …Hm? A slime? What’s it doing here…?

Victor (thinking): Also it kinda looks like the slime we tried capturing back in Pillberry.

Victor out of curiosity watches and follows the slime. The slime eventually leads Victor to a large opening that it jumps through, exiting the area.

Victor ponders what that was all about, and begins to casually make his way back to the room. From the opening that the slime exited from, a swarm of slimes pounces and latches onto Victor from behind.

Victor: Huh–?!

The slimes drag Victor with them out of the gaping hole in a comedic fashion, screaming as they plunge into the depths together.

*Morning arrives.

The group finds that Victor has gone missing. Darren mentions to the group that Victor was here last night since he wanted to use the restroom. Sharon reassures everyone that Tatsuo may be able to locate Victor. Queenie however, brings up that it’s not only Victor that is missing, but Tatsuo as well.